Nairobi senator Johnston Sakaja has promised to clear medical bills for a DustiD2 attack victim who was detained for 10 days at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) owing to huge bills after the government failed to keep its promise.
Emmanuel Omalla’s story was aired on a local Television Station, which revealed the victim’s painful struggle with medical bills after surviving one of the most horrific terror strikes in Nairobi. Senator Sakaja was touched by the story and promised to pay the unsettled bill of Ksh.100,000.
Omalla, who was shot seven times on the stomach, back and foot during the January 15, 2019 DusitD2 attack owed KNH KSh 100,000 in medical bills, money that the government had promised to take care of but failed to do so.
February 10, the Senator told Citizen TV he was going to clear the KSh. 100,000 hospital bill (on Monday) for Omalla who works as a delivery man.
Omalla was allegedly detained at KNH for 10 days after being discharged because he could not raise the hospital bill.
“We knew the government will pay our bills as promised, but later on government officials started telling us (victims) it was not a national disaster. They said for it to be called a national disaster, at least some 60 people should have died. Only 21 people died,” Omalla told Citizen TV on Sunday night.
After being discharged, Omalla could not raise the hospital bill, which allegedly made him detained at KNH for 10 days.
“We knew the government will pay our bills as promised, but later on government officials started telling us (victims) it was not a national disaster. They said for it to be called a national disaster, at least some 60 people should have died. Only 21 people died,” Omalla told Citizen TV on Sunday night.
The victim further explained that Deputy President William Ruto, went to visit them, during which he said the government will shoulder the burden of paying hospital bills.
Health Cabinet Secretary (CS) Sicily Kariuki and her Education counterpart Amina Mohamed also showed up at the hospital a day after Ruto left and gave assurance the government will foot the medical bills.
Unfortunately, the government’s promise turned out to be just hot air.
Omalla was only discharged from the hospital after he reached an agreement with KNH to pay KSh 3000 every month until the bill is settled.
Interestingly, KNH and other hospitals had also allegedly agreed to settle bills for the victims who did not have insurance, but clearly that also never happened.